


Second Chance at Love

by Holdingoutforavillain



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Timeline? Who is she?, canon? i don’t know her, this is just 800 words of Janeway being in love with her first officers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29036265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holdingoutforavillain/pseuds/Holdingoutforavillain
Summary: Kathryn Janeway reflects on love, both in her past and in her future.
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Voyager Crew, Past Kathryn Janeway/Mark Johnson
Kudos: 3





	Second Chance at Love

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy this niche fluff piece about the Voyager polycule :) the tag was too long to include in the relationship sections but it’s Janeway/Chakotay/Tuvok/Neelix/Kes/Seven/Paris/Kim/Torres/the Doctor.

  
Kathryn Janeway doesn’t know what awaits her in her relationship.   
Subtle touches, stolen kisses, gentle words abound, but there is little negotiation or definition.  
Not that it’s easy to get everyone involved in the same place for longer than ten seconds.   
Some days Kathryn thinks she’s too old for romance. There’s an ache in her bones, a tiredness, like a bag of stones is tied to each of her limbs, that doesn’t go away no matter how soundly she sleeps.   
When she was with Mark, the words “I love you” rarely flowed freely from her mouth, getting trapped in her throat instead. She would go about her solitary life, hoping that their marriage would show her how to truly love him.  
While she also rarely says “I love you” to her current partners, every action she performs in their presence says what words cannot.  
They all do the same, in their own way.   
Chakotay offers her his arm when he walks her to her quarters, while Tuvok says it when he hacks into her PADD and finishes a months worth of paperwork. Torres says it when she changes the water pressure of Kathryn’s shower to be just the way she likes it, and Kes says it when she dries flowers and herbs and makes heavenly perfumes and shampoos that she leaves in Kathryn’s room. Neelix says it when he learned how to make coffee just the way she likes it, and when he starts giving her decaf after 1500 hours. Seven says it when she cleans Kathryn’s sculpting tools until they shine, and moistens her clay. Kim says it when he builds elaborate 18th century holoprograms, and Paris says it when... well, he’ll actually say it to her face, but he’s always been a flirt.  
The Doctor... he’s still learning the ins and outs of any human relationship. The partnership he’s chosen to join is daunting, but he’s always had a way with words.  
Kathryn sometimes wondered what she would’ve said 3 years ago if someone had told her what her life would be like. As inconceivable it had been at first, Kathryn was certain that she had found her home.   
On Voyager. With them.  
...   
It was nearly night when Kathryn retired to her quarters. The rest of the crew had been dismissed earlier, and the halls were empty.  
Free of prying eyes, Kathryn undid her bun, scratching at her achy scalp as her hair fell down around her shoulders.   
When Kathryn arrived at her quarters, she paused. There was someone inside.  
For a few moments she was alarmed, but soon the faint voice grew louder, and a sense of peace and familiarity swept over Kathryn.  
She smiled, and entered.  
The small kitchen in the corner of the room smelled heavenly, as Neelix fussed about the oven, Tuvok’s steady hand on the small of his back.  
To anyone else, Tuvok would’ve seemed as emotionless as ever, but Kathryn had known the man long enough to notice the lack of tension in his shoulders. He was calm... content.  
Kathryn’s reading nook, directly across from the kitchen, had been tidied up since Kathryn last saw it. Seven was sitting in the plush armchair, with Kes on her lap. The Ocampan had an arm around Seven’s neck, and was playing with the woman’s blond curls as Seven read a heavy Starfleet manual Kathryn hadn’t touched in years.  
Across from the nook was Kathryn’s bed, recently upgraded from a Terran Queen size to an Alaskan King, which could fit nearly all Kathryn’s companions (the Doctor had yet to adopt the ‘human custom’ of sleeping, while Tuvok prefered to meditate most nights, only sleeping one or two nights a week).   
B’elanna was on the bed, half smothering Paris as she laid on his chest, tracing shapes on his bare chest. Paris was the source of the voice Kathryn had heard, waving around a PADD as he talked to Kim.  
Kim looked a mixture of sleepy and amused, gripping Chakotay tightly as the other man snored, Kim’s chest pressed to Chakotay’s back.  
Kathryn needed to give him more time off.  
She needed more time off, she thought as she yawned.  
The shower was on, Kathryn could tell. The bathroom was next to the bed. Kathryn knew it was the Doctor who was showering. Ever since Torres changed his setting to allow contact with fluid, he’d taken great pleasures cleaning and grooming his body.  
“You’re home, Love!” Kes said loudly as soon as she spotted Kathryn.  
Within seconds, the room was abuzz with smiles and greetings, and Kathryn nearly stumbled backwards under its weight.  
“Are you alright?” Tuvok asked.  
Kathryn smiled brightly, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m better than alright, Tuvok.”  
And that night, Kathryn fell asleep with a full belly, wearing a fresh pair of pajamas, and nestled in the warm arms of those she loved.  
Kathryn Janeway doesn’t know what awaits her in her relationship, but she thinks she’s where she’s meant to be.


End file.
